Fullerton, California (May 29, 2001) – Fresh off his recent 2nd place finish at Laguna Seca’s road course, Eric Norris and his #32 Jani-King team set their sights on the new 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway for Saturday’s inaugural Kansas 100, the eighth race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston West Series.
Norris will wrap up directing The President’s Man, a special two-hour CBS movie-of-the-week, on Thursday evening before enjoying the short flight to Kansas City from his residence in Dallas, Texas. The veteran NASCAR Winston West driver is anxious to focus on his racing career full-time with the completion of The President’s Man and the Walker, Texas Ranger television series.
“It’s been a terrific run for Walker the past eight years in Dallas and I will really miss working with a great cast and crew,” commented Norris, “but I’ve been looking forward to having the time to focus solely on racing and being at the race shop with the guys which will begin after Kansas City.”
Norris, who currently sits in sixth place in the Winston West point standings, is hungry to notch his second career win. While leading the fourth most laps in the Series’ first seven races, Norris has come up short of Victory Circle, finishing second twice.
“We are due for a win,” said Norris. “Based on our performances at the bigger tracks this year I feel really confident heading to Kansas City. While it will hurt us a little bit with me not being able to make the optional practice day on Thursday, we have Mike Bliss coming in to set-up the car and that should help us out a bunch.”
Following the race in Kansas, Norris’s teammates will return to Dallas with him to make final preparations on their race truck for the O’Reilly 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck race at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8. This is the first of two NASCAR Truck races Norris will compete in at Texas Motor Speedway for his Dallas-based sponsor Jani-King, the world’s largest franchisor of commercial cleaning services. The second race will be on September 15. The races will be televised live on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively.
At Kansas, Norris and his team will enjoy accommodations at the Four Points Barcelo Sheraton Hotel (ph: 816-216-8001). The Kansas 100 will be televised by the Fox Sports Network on a tape-delay basis. For more information on Eric Norris and Norris Racing, visit www.NorrisRacing.com.
